Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Director of the Directorate of Health Promotion and Community Empowerment, the Indonesian Ministry of Health, dr. Imran Agus Nurali, Sp.KO said that changing people’s behavior during the pandemic was one of the biggest challenges in implementing a healthy lifestyle.
“The challenge is on the side demand (society) and supply (food availability). If from the side supply, where Indonesia is a country with many variations of vegetables and fruits, but there are still fruits that are considered expensive,” said Dr. Imran in his presentation at a web seminar, Tuesday.
“In terms of people’s behavior, during this pandemic, many people WFH and people like to order food through a large number of delivery services too junk food high in calories, sugar and fat. This is an investment for hypertension, diabetes, and others,” he added.
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When asked about the current (viral) food trend, which is usually high in sugar and calories, dr. Imran said it was important for the public to know information related to food and its impact on health.
“Regulate the intake of calories and sugar that are needed daily. Also know the current foods that are low in sugar. Behavior change is very important to prevent non-communicable diseases and their complications such as kidney, heart, stroke, which have large and long-term costs, so that lowers their quality of life,” he said.
Further, dr. Imran reminded the public to be wise in choosing their daily food. For example, changing daily carbohydrates from white rice to brown rice which is low in glucose index but rich in fiber.
“Then, don’t have too much fat. Even with salt, foods with a lot of salt actually increase blood pressure and so on,” he said.
“It is important to remember that vegetables and fruit also contain fiber which is physiologically important in influencing blood vessels, hormones, which can later prevent hypertension, diabetes … especially if they have genetics from these diseases, so their menu consumption must be considered,” he added.
dr. Imran also reminded the public to be physically active, such as exercising, as well as arranging a balanced diet.
From the government side and other collaborators, dr. Imran said campaigns related to healthy living that are echoed both offline and digitally and others need to be carried out continuously.
“Don’t wait for a moment. By repeating something that is right, it will lead to wider goodness. Changing behavior is not easy, however, the more people involved, the easier it will be for us to lead to good behavior,” he explained.
“Involve all elements of the partnership in this campaign, starting from the government, universities, private sectors, civil society, and the mass media. These five elements play an important role in this campaign,” he added.
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Reporter: Arnidhya Nur Zhafira
Editor: Alviansyah Pasaribu
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